Monthly Archives: December 2015

Digestate optimisation technology for AD operators

Demonstrating how to optimise anaerobic digestion (AD) plant performance, HRS Heat Exchangers will showcase their latest ultra-energy efficient Digestate Concentration System (DCS) on stand 2 at Energy Now 2016.

With a typical 1.5 MW AD plant producing a much as 40,000 tonnes of liquid digestate each year, plant operators face significant economic and logistical challenges associated with storing and transporting the biofertiliser. The DCS typically reduces the volume of liquid digestate by around 60%, helping operators better manage this natural by-product of the AD process.

“The volume and consistency of digestate can quickly become a costly bottleneck in plant efficiency if it isn’t concentrated. Faced with incentive degressions, AD plants must run efficiently with every aspect optimised if they are going to maximise their return on investment,” comments Matt Hale, HRS International Sales Manager.

The DCS concentrates liquid digestate, which has a low dry solid content, and increases the dry matter typically from 4% to 10%. This reduces the overall volume of digestate produced, meaning that up to 60% less storage capacity is needed and fewer lorry loads are required helping curb a plant’s transportation costs and carbon footprint.

The HRS DCS uses a multi-effect concentration process using forced recirculation to process the digestate. The system works by superheating the digestate in a vacuum to facilitate concentration, coupled with HRS’s corrugated tube heat transfer technology which reduces fouling and reduces maintenance periods. By using a two or three effect concentrator, the low temperature steam which is evaporated can be reused, making the process highly energy efficient.

Furthermore, the water removed by the process is recovered and mixed with the plant’s feedstock, increasing the efficiency of the digester and reducing the amount of energy and water used by the AD plant.

HRS Heat Exchangers will be on Stand 2 at Energy Now 2016.

 

This post first appeared on Farming Online on Wednesday 2 December 2015.

Kent shopkeeper fined for selling rotten fruit

A Kentish shopkeeper has been fined for selling rotten fruit and vegetables after an inspection by the Horticultural Marketing Inspectorate (HMI).

Ishtiaq Ahmed, proprietor of the Garden of England store in Canterbury was sentenced at Canterbury Magistrates Court on 23 November 2015. An HMI investigation in April found nine breaches of EU marketing rules for fresh produce quality and labelling, including apples and lemons which failed to meet the lowest marketable standards permitted.

Rural Payments Agency Operations Director Paul Caldwell commented, “Prosecution is only used as a last resort and we will always try to get businesses complying with the marketing standards through advice and guidance and, where possible, with the full cooperation and support from the business itself.”

Mr Ahmed pleaded guilty and was fined £1,305 for the offences, £2,871.42 for the prosecution’s costs and a £20 victim surcharge.

Photo Credit: Gov.uk

The post Kent shopkeeper fined for selling rotten fruit appeared first on Hort News.

Cucumber growers struggling

Reports that the UK cucumber sector is at the ‘brink of extinction’ may be melodramatic, but industry representatives agree that further contraction will be seen if the market does not pick up.

Cucumbers were one crop highlighted as being particularly at threat in the NFU’s recent Catalyst Revisited report after UK production fell below 100 ha for the first time. The average retail price of cucumbers has, like other produce, fallen by around 50% over recent months.

In turn this has devalued the crop. “Every other supermarket jumped on the bandwagon and 50p now is the most you can get,” Derek Hargreaves, technical officer at the Cucumber Growers Association (CGA) told one website. “Go back a few years and cucumbers cost anywhere between 80p to £1.20. If they were worth 80p four years ago, by rights, it should be 85p now.”

With few commercial cucumber growers left around the Humber, the Lea Valley now produces 75% of the crop. While there are signs of investment in new glass, none of it so far is earmarked for cucumber production.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons

The post Cucumber growers struggling appeared first on Hort News on 27 November 2015.

WIYBY will advise on water pollution risk

The Voluntary Initiative (VI) is calling on farmers and growers to use the Environment Agency’s What’s in Your Backyard website (www.wiyby.co.uk) to help assess the risk of water pollution from agrochemicals and manage key products appropriately.

‘Farmers, agronomists and operators need to know where their land drains to, if they want to continue to use pesticides to control weeds and slugs,’ said the VI in a statement. Although primarily targeted at winter cereals and oilseed rape, the use of metaldehyde for slug control has implications for vegetable growers.

“Not every field drains to a drinking water source but pesticide use in those that do really matters,” explained the VI’s Patrick Goldsworthy. “The first step for farmers and growers is to find out whether any of the land they manage is in a Drinking Water Safeguard Zone and if there are any pesticide issues in that Safeguard Zone. [If] there are concerns about pesticide issues then they should discuss with their agronomist what they can do to help reduce the risk of any pesticides they use reaching water, be that surface or ground water.”

For more information visit www.voluntaryinitiative.org.uk.

The post WIYBY will advise on water pollution risk appeared first on Hort News on 24 November 2015.

Warm autumn bringing forward UK asparagus

A field of asparagus in Evesham is reportedly sprouting five months early due to the warm autumn weather.

According to newspaper reports, a single 600g bundle, which was grown by Mark Meadows, was sold for £24 at Evesham Auctions last Thursday (19 November) with the money raised going to charity. It was brought by farm shop owner Chris Groves who said he would share it with his wife.

He added, “All the old boys at the market, who have been growing asparagus in the Vale for decades all agreed it was the latest they had ever heard of. When it was brought to market everyone gathered around and agreed it had never been known.”

It is believed the plants had sprouted due to the recent mild weather, making it the earliest, or latest, crop recorded in the UK.

Photo Credit: Picserver

The post Warm autumn bringing forward UK asparagus appeared first on Hort News on 24 November 2015.

New farming app aims to put farm in your pocket

A new mobile phone app aims to put “Your farm in your pocket,” according to Fieldmargin co-founder Rob Carter.

The idea for the system grew out of frustration at the number of different sources of notes and data being used around the farm, from agronomists to tractor drivers and others. Some was electronic and some was on scraps of paper. The new system allows information to be recorded in real time and accessed across the farm.

“For example an agronomist can use their phone to record and locate a note while crop walking and you can go and see exactly what they are talking about,” comments Rob.

“We’ve been developing Fieldmargin since 2013. Although Fieldmargin the Crop Recorder is complete and several farms use it as their sole crop recording software we still think that we can make it better,” he adds. The company is now looking for growers and farmers to help test the new mobile platform and develop potential features. For more information visit www.fieldmargin.com.

Photo Credit: fieldmargin

The post New farming app aims to put farm in your pocket appeared first on Hort News on 24 November 2015.

RFID start-up for farmers wants to expand

A new agri-tech startup aims to give farmers and growers the ability to attach data to any part of their farming business, from fields and machines, right down to individual animals, pickers or plants.

As Abby Schlageter of vidacycle explained, the idea first came about when her parents started an olive farm in Chile and wanted a way to keep track of which trees needed attention, such as re-staking or pruning. Eventually she hit upon the idea of using RFID tags coupled with a simple phone app.

These small discs use an electromagnetic field to transfer data wirelessly with no internet required, in turn allowing data to be ‘attached’ to each location fitted with a tag. As well as tracking individual trees, the company has also developed a system for tracking harvesting output for hand-picked produce such as fruit and vegetables. Each worker is given a tag and each time they hand in what they have picked the tag identifies them and the amount harvested.

Data can be stored on the phone or tablet or uploaded for further analysis on a computer. The company is now looking to expand and is seeking two or more UK farmers to help develop the system. For more information visit tech.vidacycle.com or email abby@vidacycle.com.

Photo Credit: tech.vidacycle

The post RFID start-up for farmers wants to expand appeared first on Hort News on 24 November 2015.

Nematicide Stewardship Programme announces new training

The Nematicide Stewardship Programme (NSP) used the BP2015 event in Harrogate on the 12th November to announce a new training partnership with ARTIS.

“We are excited about the training partnership with ARTIS,” said NSP Chair, Dr Sharon Hall. “The use of Nematicides remains critical to many growers in producing a quality product and maintaining current rotations and this new partnership will deliver high quality training on a sustainable basis to the industry.”

The NSP group is a joint initiative that brings together different industry organisations and companies to ensure these vital products remain available for future use on potatoes and other key root crops.

“It’s crucial for all operators to attend,” added Dr Hall. “Industry has requested that Red Tractor Assurance incorporates a requirement into its standards specifying that all staff applying nematicides must have completed the course by March 2017.”

The winter programme of operator training workshops takes place in throughout the country and will be provided for free of charge while funding is available. Places can be booked at www.artistraining.com.

Photo Credit: AHDB Potatoes. Andy Alexander (NFU); Neil Beadle (Dupont); Sharon Hall (Potato Processors’ Association); Alan Horgan (Certis); Mark Britton (Syngenta); Sue Cowgill (AHDB Potatoes); John Keer (Richard Austin Agriculture Ltd).

The post Nematicide Stewardship Programme announces new training appeared first on Hort News on 17 November 2015.